house Bill H.R. 6082

Should Past Drug Abuse Treatment be Included in a Patient’s Medical Record?

Argument in favor

This bipartisan bill ensures doctors know what they need to about their patient’s past drug abuse treatment to avoid unnecessarily putting them in a position to relapse while strengthening health records privacy rules that’d cover this information.

This bill as proposed retains the privacy safeguards of HIPPA. Under HIPPA your medical records can't be used against you in employment, housing, etc or any civil, state or federal action. except by court order . Further there are penalties for disclosure if that happens by any means. It makes sense to have all your medical records available to your care provider where and when it is needed. This bill should become law.

This is a safety issue. If a patient has had a past problem with drugs, a doctor may look for alternatives to highly addictive treatments.

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Argument opposed

This bill doesn’t do enough to protect patient privacy regarding their substance abuse treatment and punish improper disclosures. Alternatively, a person’s past treatment for drug abuse shouldn’t be included in their health record at all.

Doctors discriminate. So, no. In New York State doctors can discharge you from their practice for using cannabis. It happens all the time because doctors care more about their business than helping people. End discrimination against cannabis users first.

Are we trying to create a vehicle for pre-existing conditions so that insurance companies can refuse coverage? Complete med records are important BUT Nothing fair or balanced ever came out of OK under a (R) bill.

Although those issues belong in medical records, the protection is weak because so many agencies demand “release” of the records by their potential client. Insurance companies will likely use it to decrease risk as would be expected. Won’t make it easier for people to accept drug treatment nor divulge use.

What is House Bill H.R. 6082?

This bill — the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act — would require that substance use treatment records are including in patients’ medical records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It would also enhance penalties for the disclosure of substance use disorder treatment records, add notification requirements in the event of a breach, and provide protections from discrimination for people seeking and receiving treatment.

Impact

Patients with past drug abuse treatment and their doctors; and health records regulators.

Cost of House Bill H.R. 6082

$1.00 Million

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost $1 million over the 2019-2023 period.

More Information

“In order to responsibly diagnose patients, doctors need to know the whole story about their patient’s medical history. Currently, doctors do not have access to crucial information in a patient’s medical history such as previous treatment for drug abuse and addiction, making it difficult to safely and holistically treat the patient. The Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act updates an outdated law to give doctors the whole story on their patient’s medical history and ensure that a patient with a history of opioid abuse isn’t treated with opioids.”

“My Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act would make sure substance abuse treatment records are included in the medical record, while also strengthening privacy standards to protect patients’ personal treatment information. Recently, that legislation passed out of Committee, and it’s one step closer to becoming law. This is a small step forward, but it’s a sign of progress.”

This legislation passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee on a 34-17 vote.

Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act

Official Title

To amend the Public Health Service Act to protect the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records.

This bill as proposed retains the privacy safeguards of HIPPA. Under HIPPA your medical records can't be used against you in employment, housing, etc or any civil, state or federal action. except by court order . Further there are penalties for disclosure if that happens by any means. It makes sense to have all your medical records available to your care provider where and when it is needed. This bill should become law.

Doctors discriminate. So, no. In New York State doctors can discharge you from their practice for using cannabis. It happens all the time because doctors care more about their business than helping people. End discrimination against cannabis users first.

Are we trying to create a vehicle for pre-existing conditions so that insurance companies can refuse coverage? Complete med records are important BUT Nothing fair or balanced ever came out of OK under a (R) bill.

Although those issues belong in medical records, the protection is weak because so many agencies demand “release” of the records by their potential client. Insurance companies will likely use it to decrease risk as would be expected. Won’t make it easier for people to accept drug treatment nor divulge use.

@Susan, you couldn’t be more wrong. HIPPA is definitely a privacy law. As a nurse, I take course on this law yearly. The only people that can have any of your healthcare information is the healthcare providers taking care of you. And that doesn’t mean they can read the whole chart. For instances, a scrub tech in surgery wouldn’t need to know about a drug addiction. It has nothing to do with their job. When I worked at Cedars Sinai, no one talked about the celebrities that they took care of or looked up information in their chart. Who wants to lose their job or go to jail for that? I’ve never told anyone who I took care of hence the privacy law.

I don’t see why this should not be included in someone’s medical records. As long as it follows the same privacy policies that all medical treatment/procedures under HIPAA. Knowledge of this history will allow the doctor treating you to make the best decisions possible and provide the most effective treatments. Including avoiding highly addictive opioid pain killers if you’ve show addictive tendencies in the past. Prevention is a underrated tool in solving the opioid problem we have in the US

Nurse here: it’s is extremely important to know all of a persons past history. If you’re used to taking 15 mg of oxycodone every few hrs, then me giving you 5 mg after a surgery isn’t going to do it for you. Or if you had a really hard drug recovery period, there are other alternatives to take versus me handing you the drug you worked so hard to get off of.